One of our goals at SUNY Oswego is to increase world
awareness in our students: “…expand curricular and
co-curricular activities in departments/programs to
promote students’ community and political engagement
for addressing the issues of their communities and
their world.” To help achieve this goal, Mary Beth
Bell, Penfield Library’s Director, wanted an exhibit
focusing on the genocide in Darfur. We felt the
genocide in Darfur is a most important issue, and that
our students may not be aware of the situation. As art
librarian and curator of our library exhibit space, I
went searching.

A 2005 exhibit of children’s art at Rowan University led
me to Dr. Jerry Ehrlich. Dr. Ehrlich was a volunteer
with Doctors Without Borders and cared for the sick and
dying at a displacement camp. The conditions in the camp
were deplorable. Jerry brought with him paper and
crayons, and children, ages 8-11 drew images of their
daily life. The violence the children lived with
everyday in their villages is portrayed in these drawings.
And, yet, some of these drawings are poignantly ordinary.

The violence in the Darfur area has not diminished. It is,
in fact, entering a new horrible phase. According to the
New York Times, Sunday, March 2nd, 2008, the janjaweed
(Arab militias) and Sudanese governmental troops are
carrying out a series of attacks “using air power, ground
forces”. The United Nations estimates are that 58,000
people recently fled the area due to the fighting. Now a
“more deadly pattern is returning, and with it fears are
rising among villagers, aid workers, diplomats and analysts
that Darfur is headed for a new cycle of bloodletting and
displacement on a vast scale”. The government drops bombs
on villages, then the janjaweed come in and burn, kill and
rape the people and take their possessions. At least
200,000 people according to estimates are believed dead
from attacks or from hunger. Current news reports indicate
gang rape is now a popular form of intimidation.

The original drawings are on tour; however, Jerry sent a
cd and permission to reprint. 181 images arrived on cd.
We titled our exhibit Drawings from Children of Darfur.
Because of the nature of the drawings, children’s work,
the drawings were printed in 8 ½ x 11 format in color
(originals are on beige paper). Reprinting 181 drawings
was quite a task, but maintaining the flavor of the
originals was vital, and I wanted to ‘plaster’ our walls
with drawings. The drawings were hung by string-—retaining
the feel of children’s ‘refrigerator art’. So the viewers
would perceive fun drawings one would make at school, and
then the shock of violent images.

In addition to the drawings exhibited, Dr. Darius Makuja
from LeMoyne College and a native Sudanese gave a lecture
in our Lake Effect Café. The title of his lecture was:
Genocide in Darfur: Oil Interests and International
Community’s Inability to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in
Sudan. Dr. Makuja is a brilliant speaker, and his lecture
tied the atrocities to global politics, especially oil
acquisition by the Chinese. He showed a short powerful
video giving background information in interview format
with people tortured and abused in Darfur. Also, SUNY
Oswego has a “Lost Boy” from the Sudan on campus. He
attended and spoke of his exodus from Sudan to individuals
after the lecture.

Although publicity for our event was challenging, posters
were placed around campus, the Office of International
Education sponsored the opening reception, and numerous
emails were sent to departments and individuals via our
liaisons and administrators. Attendance was good—-many
students came (I am guessing 50) and quite a number of
faculty.
Benjamin, one of our students from Sudan, takes an
Adolescent Psychology class. His professor, Bonnie Marini
and her students (all 84 of them) came into Penfield
Library to see the exhibit. This was very compelling for
our students—-to see the drawings and talk with a fellow
student who had been forced to leave his country.

Shannon Pritting, head of Access Services, and I decided
to put these images on the tv in our lobby during the exhibit. Also, after checking with Dr. Ehrlich we
decided to share these powerful drawings via the SUNY
Digital Repository. This excellent resource allows people
worldwide to view these images and in a unique fashion
adds to the awareness of the crises in the Darfur region.

Not only did we achieve our goal of increasing global
awareness for those who attended our opening reception and lecture, those who were in our library, those who
attended the class, but I have a list of 22 names (students
and faculty) who are interested in getting involved to
help end the atrocities in Darfur. One of my summer
projects is working with the students still in the area
and see what we want to do. Wish us luck. Improving
civic engagement is important for our students and is a
worthy goal for all of our libraries.